Rittenberg Interview with Jim Delany

Sorry if this was posted within one of the many other Michigan-OSU threads, but I thought it gave a lot more insight than we have seen so far.

I think they are leaning toward splitting Michigan and OSU up and having some kind of cross divisional rivalry week that will more than likely be the 2nd or 3rd to last week of the season. Not as good as the last week obviously, but I guess better than mid-October. We'll see.

Edit: For those of you out there that have been coming up with possible divisional splits, it sounds like they are considering splitting all the major rivals. What would these divisions look like? Thanks!

I guess it's at least encouraging that Jim believes the big-time rivalries should be the culminating portion of the season, and that UM-OSU in the same division is at least still on the table. Other than that I just wish they'd makeup their minds so we can get on with the next stage of coping.

I would be a lot happier with playing OSU the 2nd to last week of the season (which would be the more traditional third weekend in November spot) than mid-October, but it's still not ideal.

However, if the following week's game isn't interdivisional rivalry game (ie. OSU-PSU), I'd probably be fine with it. If Purdue is the last game of the season, at least Ohio State is the last important game.

Wisconsin and Iowa included in a "Big Six", I cringe. I still don't see them as "there". They were too bad for too long and are still often mediocre. Also,they have never had a run like those the UofM, PSU, OSU and Nebraska have had several of each.

He said the word "late" several times. It's pretty clear that it won't be played in October. Obviously, if UM and OSU are in the same division, it'll be played at the end of the regular season. Obviously, the brass want the potential for a rematch.

I would put Michigan-Ohio State among the top five events in all of sports for rivalry. It'll get played. Now the question is, how best to play it? Are they in the same divisions or are they not? Do they play in the last game, the second-to-last game, the third-to-last game?

But..."among the top five events in all of sports."???!!! And this is the caretaker of that rivalry? Maybe he DOES think OSU/PSU is the top event.

I'd imagine it would be very hard to play OSU the week before Thanksgiving, Nebraska the following week, and then in the Big Ten Championship Game the week after that.We'll have some pretty sore guys at the end of a run like that.

Maybe playing OSU, and then for the Jug ... but the potential for a trap game after playing OSU is huge (just as big as a trap game the week before).

On the one hand, I really would have liked to have played OSU again two weeks later on a neutral field (with good turf) in 2006. On the other, I really like having the game last because there is one less trap on the schedule, and other lesser or new rivalries don't get elevated.

The more and more I read about this, the angrier and angrier I get at how incompetent and selfish the higher-ups are. The are looking first how to maximize income and looking second at how to best minimize fan's anger. Anyone who thinks that they haven't taken UM and OSU being in the same division off the table is wrong. They will say they are considering it, just to appease fans for the time being. However, they will never actually do that because they want a UM-OSU clash in the title game as priority number one.

There is OSU and us wanting to preserve a tradition running back to the 1930's.

There is everyone else in the Big Ten who are jealous of the tradition, but don't want to kill the golden goose too much. Oh and those likely to get "stuck" in a division with OSU and Michigan both (thus almost totally eliminating any shot at the Big Ten championship for them).

And there is Delany, who wants the most money possible, but doesn't want to kill the golden goose.

I think both the AD at OSU, and DB have been asked to test this with the faithful - and their getting an earful of no.

Bottom line is, if you put OSU and Michigan in separate divisions you get better competitive fairness, but you diminish the game to a age old rivalry with "spoiler" potential. If you keep them in the same division, woe be our division mates, but the game is the path for OSU or Michigan to reach the Big Ten Championship and beyond (we stand directly in each others way).

i.e., there are going to be at least four solid votes against Michigan and OSU in the same division.

Cross-division rivalry week in November might be the best lousy option...all things considered.

I do worry about seeing the stands half empty if our ticket to the championship game is punched, it's the week after OSU, the late November weather is rotten, and it's Indiana. The other good reason to play OSU last game of the season is that people will still go even in bad weather. ...but that's a more minor issue.

I've been reading all these posts for the past few days regarding the belief that putting Michigan and OSU in separate divisions will help produce Michigan-OSU Championship games. As some have noted, that hasn't worked with other rivalries, and I think the reason why is pretty obvious. There are not going to be round-robin schedules. Thus, several teams will not play either Michigan or OSU. Given that either Michigan or OSU will have a loss every year, that means the other team's in the loser's division will have a leg up to getting to the championship games. Hypothetically, if OSU were to lose to Michigan in a so-called Plains Division, it's chances of losing out to Nebraska or Iowa or whomever is fairly substantial -- even if OSU were not to lose any other conference games. Thus, if the grand design is to achieve Michigan-OSU championship games, they're just plain deceiving themselves.

and the teams will continue to play in the same division, these leaks are all just another way for the BT to further hype the new conference in the offseason.

Look, even as a Nebraska fan it's obvious that BT football is all about Michigan and Ohio State. Always has been, always will be. That didn't change when PSU joined, won't change now that Nebraska's joined and there's a conference title game. They're not going to screw it up.

Don't blame you guys for worrying though.

The good news is, soon they'll make the announcement, and we can all be about more important things like watching our teams compete for championships.

Granted the Red River game was big before the Big Eight SWC merger. From your perspective, was the demise of the Nebraska Oklahoma rivarly due to the lack of protected crossover rivalrys? Did that game get moved? (Sorry, the transition is far back enough that I don't recall the circumstances, other than it is a shame.)

I am curious, because I would think Tom Osborne would be a good council for this issue.

NU-OK went from an annual Thanksgiving Day game usually playing for the B8 title, to playing every other year as a midseason cross-division game.

When the BXII was formed, Nebraska wanted the status quo, but Oklahoma didn't want to play us and new division rival TX every year, plus they counted on the TX game to maintain their TX recruiting (that explains why they were willing to follow TX to the PAC 10). The BXII opted to drop the annual game to only two games every four years and just schedule the game in with the rest of the cross division rotation. So the rivalry was immediately killed, it just took a few years for everyone to admit it

Before the BXII, we met for 71 straight seasons, and from 1962 through 1997, either Nebraska, Oklahoma, or both teams were ranked in the top 10 over 30 times.

Here's a possible divisional split that starts from the premise that Michigan's rival during a rivalry week would be OSU. During the rivalry week, teams in division A would face the teams in division B that are in the same row.

Div. A Div. B

Michigan OSU

MSU PSU

Nebraska Wisconsin

Iowa Minnesota

Indiana Purdue

Northwestern Illinois

With the rivalty week plus the teams within each division facing each other every year, I believe this protects all Big Ten trophy games except two: Michigan-Minnesota and Iowa-Wisconsin. It seems unlikely that any split can both protect all the rivalries and make sense in terms of competitive balance.